


A Year After

by elsewherewolf



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-25
Packaged: 2018-01-02 15:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1058601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elsewherewolf/pseuds/elsewherewolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after Pitfall, they finally move out of the Shatterdome. There were no excuses or announcements, there was no need for anything more than a quiet resignation and a few promises to keep in touch, invitations to visit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Year After

A year after Pitfall, they finally move out of the Shatterdome. There were no excuses or announcements, there was no need for anything more than a quiet resignation and a few promises to keep in touch, invitations to visit.

Their new home might not look like much, but to Raleigh it's everything. The walls are brick, not metal, the view from the window is of thick, dark forest instead of the ocean, and when he turns from fetching another box in from the van they'd rented, he can see Herc standing on the porch, smiling at him.

He says that the cold makes his wrist ache, but Raleigh thinks it's more than that - it's a year after Pitfall, and Herc still says sometimes that it should have been him down there with Chuck. Those are the darkest days, the ones Raleigh has to pull him back from, because he knows how the guilt and the what ifs can eat you up from the inside.

A couple more trips, and they get everything inside. There isn't much, not really, their lifestyle too transient for too long until now.

Raleigh makes hot chocolate once they find a couple of tin mugs and a saucepan, and they curl up on the wreck of a couch and manage not to silently freak out about the fact that this is their home now. The two of them, together. Shared couch, shared bed, shared lives, shared everything.

Sure the house needs some work, but Raleigh feels confident that between them they can fix it up to what they want it to be. The world outside their windows is doing exactly the same, after all and nothing's going to be perfect, not for a while.

He tips his head back, kisses Herc's throat. _Okay, almost nothing._

"Don't get too comfy down there. We should head out soon if we're getting food. Takeaway or groceries, your choice."

Raleigh grins, thinking of the sparse amount of kitchen utensils they own between them. "Takeout. Tomorrow we'll shop. Might be a long list."

"I'm up for it if you are. Would you mind..."

Raleigh touches Herc's wrist, and nods. "Sure. Still sore?"

He feels Herc breathe out, hears him swallow. "It'll pass."

+

They stand together in the bathtub, the shower blasting mercifully hot water over them both. Raleigh curls a hand behind Herc's head, pulls him down a little, out of the spray. He squeezes shampoo onto Herc's hair and starts to scrub it in, feeling some of the tension begin to drain from them both. Hong Kong is so far behind them, Anchorage and Sydney further still. What's left in its place is this; Raleigh's fingers in Herc's hair, Herc's mouth open against his shoulder. Shampoo running off with the water, and Raleigh's careful hands keeping it out of Herc's eyes.

"Thanks," Herc says when they're done and Raleigh has him sat on the box mattress they're using for a bed until they can find something better. He laughs quietly when Raleigh towels dry his hair, tilts his head back for a kiss and groans when what Raleigh gives him is warmer and deeper than either of them expected.

"Any time," Raleigh murmurs against his lips.

He knows that Herc's wrist will bother him again some day, just as he knows that there'll be a night he'll wake up sweating with the exertion of carrying Gipsy to shore by himself, feeling Yancy ripped from him over and over again. And Herc will be there, like he has been for almost the past year, to tell him that he's going to be alright. To remind him that he's still alive, and that's okay.


End file.
